Ravyn Lenae arrived during the latter half of the 2010s with an atmospheric yet song-oriented form of contemporary R&B that resembled a mix of low-key
Erykah Badu and early
Little Dragon.
Lenae made her debut as a teenager in 2015 with
Moon Shoes, an EP produced by fellow Zero Fatigue member
Monte Booker. Originally issued as a free download, it was picked up by major-label Atlantic for commercial release the following year. A shorter EP supported by Atlantic,
Midnight Moonlight, followed in March 2017. By this point,
Lenae had also racked up featured appearances on tracks headlined by
Booker,
Noname,
Mick Jenkins,
Saba, and
Smino, among others. Remarkably, all this occurred while
Lenae was attending Chicago High School for the Arts. "Sticky" was out by the end of 2017 and landed on
Crush EP, issued early the following year with
the Internet's
Steve Lacy featured on two cuts. ~ Andy Kellman